Bystander
by Izzu
Summary: Hello Monster. Having a one-side... is not easy.
1. C 1

Because atm I had too much Hello Monster muses. Might as well throw all of them out before other show muses started overlapping the current inspiration.

Plus, I liked writing from Eunhyeok's pov.

* * *

"Lee Hyeon! Hyeon! What's wrong with you?"

It's strange... that even now, he could only think about how much Cha Jian cared about Lee Hyeon. Even when the situation didn't really allow him to be distracted with personal feelings.

"Ugh, of all the things to happen. What even is going on now?"

Eunhyeok turned towards Detective Son. "Son-sunbae, would you and Seungju take Eunbok downstairs? I'll handle the rest."

"Umm, we'll do that," said the man as the three of them headed to the ramp. Eunhyeok turned back towards Jian as she started fussing over the unconscious Lee Hyeon.

He knelt beside her as he also tried to check on Lee Hyeon.

"Something wrong with him?"

Jian shrugged. "I don't know. He doesn't seem to be sick but I...", she picked up a gun from her side and gave it to him. "Captain, I think Seungju dropped this. You should hold it for him."

"A-ah!" he said, before staring at the gun. Then, he realized—if he wasn't mistaken—Lee Hyeon was holding the gun before he suddenly collapsed. _That... was strange. You don't normally..._

"Should we take him to the hospital?"

Despite that, he couldn't help noticing how protective Jian was as she continued to hold Lee Hyeon at her side. Jian shook her head.

"No need. I'll just... take him home to rest. Can you help me carry him, Captain?"

"Aah! Sure..." he gasped as he immediately grab hold of Lee Hyeon to carry on his back.

Yet, throughout the trip towards her car... they never spoke a word to each other. Again, he felt like an outsider whenever he was with the two. It was awkward.

At the carpark, Jian started scanning the area as she caught sight of Lee Hyeon's car. "Ah!"

Eunhyeok looked up as he was in the middle of securing Lee Hyeon at the front passenger seat of Jian's car. "Hmm? What's wrong?"

She turned to him as she took out her cellphone. "It's nothing," she said, waving her hand at him. Then, she immediately looked away from him as Jian started calling on someone.

"Ah. Are you working today? Hmm... did your—did Lee Hyeon sent you to work this morning? Ah... no, no. It's—"

Did he just imagined it, or was Jian giving him a suspicious glance just now?

"—his car was here. Umm... do you want me to pick you up now? Yeah... right now, it's sort of an emergency. Yeah... okay."

Jian ended the call as she went back to the car. Eunhyeok stood up. "Do you need me to help? I mean, you still have to carry—"

"It's all right. I already call for the li—someone to help me. I'm going to pick him up first before heading to Hyeon's house. Thanks... Captain."

Eunhyeok couldn't say anything as he backed away, and closed the door after him. Jian smiled at him gratefully before getting into her car. With that, Cha Jian drove away with Lee Hyeon... leaving him behind.

He sighed as he watched the car disappear from view. It seemed, even when he thought he'd known more about Cha Jian and Lee Hyeon... there's still a lot that he didn't know about them. Should he give up? It did appear that perhaps his suspicion about them had been right all along.

But then, what of the _other_ person?

xxx

He suddenly felt that he had to meet him properly. Especially after the things he just recently found out; the connection that man had with them—to Cha Jian, Lee Hyeon and Eunbok. But even if it turned out to be in vain, he was glad that he came. Even if it was only to save Cha Jian from being yet another new victim of Lee Junyeong.

But suppose, this was the sign where he have to completely give up. Because now he knew that he could never compete with Lee Hyeon. How could he, when he could see just how much Cha Jian loves the man? To be so reckless as to confront Lee Junyeong alone by herself, on the same day Lee Hyeon collapsed for some kind of reason. Because it can't be a coincidence, for Jian to do something like this right after Lee Hyeon went ill. Even if the two did have some unresolved business with Lee Junyeong, Cha Jian had persevered so much before. So to suddenly acted so rash, it's just unlike her. So it must be because of Lee Hyeon.

That... reminds him. Back then... despite the possibility that she would be targeted by Cho Yongu, she had only worried about Lee Hyeon. She never did much... worry about herself. Even regarding Lee Junyeong.

Come to think about it, he wondered if the feeling was not one-sided. The more he thought about it, he could recall that Lee Hyeon too... did appear to care about Cha Jian. Both of them were rarely apart for too long, and both of them often watched over each other's back a lot.

There was really never any chance for anyone to come between them.

Eunhyeok stopped walking and turned towards Cha Jian.

"I... used to like you. I loved that... I could like you. Cha Jian-ssi."

It was sort of his way of confessing his feelings; even if he knew that the feelings won't be returned. It was in a way a closure, for him. But at least this was a way for him to show his support. Because it beats doing nothing. And he needed to let Jian know why his father's action weighed on him so much. Not just because his father had framed her father to cover up the truth about Lee Junyeong's escape. But because his father did that to someone _he_ cared about.

Eunhyeok smiled to himself as he walked away. _You did a good job, Kang Eunhyeok_ , he told himself.

 _Perhaps being a third person was not that bad at all._

* * *

In case it wasn't obvious enough. The other person that Eunhyeok was referring to (besides the one in the passage afterwards that was mostly referring to Lee Junho) was Min/Jeong Seonho. Since Eunhyeok did kinda misinterpret Hyeon's relationship with Jeong prior.


	2. C 2

Probably because lately they weren't taking any hard cases that would require assistance from that certain _someone_ , perhaps that was why he hadn't noticed. And probably also because he was so busy trying to keep the team together, that he overlook some of the oddities. But of course, even with all the other things that crossed their paths... given time, you're bound to take notice of things. Since things do accumulate.

 _Though, by this point... was it even wise to breach the issue directly?_

Kang Eunhyeok extended his neck a bit as he saw Detective Son Myeongu over his desk."Aah, Senior Son... may I have a moment?"

The older detective glanced up to him before walking around their work desks to get to him. "What is it, Captain?"

Eunhyeok awkwardly glanced around him before beaching the topic. "Did you... notice that Jian was acting odd lately?"

Myeongu blinked before shaking his head. "Not that I noticed...ah!" he gasped before shaking his head again. "...I shouldn't recklessly be suspicious of other people's business. I've been warned about that after all."

"Warned about _what_?"

Myeongu shrugged. "Those two... Jian and Dave, both of them used to hang together so much they're practically twins. No matter if it was in the way they always finish each other's sentences or mirroring each other, you can't help noticing stuff. You'd think they were dating in secret or something—oh hey! Come to think, haven't seem that guy around lately. Did they fought?"

Eunhyeok sighed. Perhaps he had been negligent in taking notice of his team's well-being lately.

xxx

It took another month for the hints to start becoming clearer. Jian's tendencies to slip into daydreams were becoming frequent, and he often caught her staring at Hyeon's empty desk. Eunhyeok tried calling his phone but no luck. It was starting to bother him. Because he knows how close both of them were, and it was strange for them to not be contacting each other. It was worrisome.

"Captain..."

Eunhyeok snapped himself from his reverie as he looked up to see Seungju staring back at him. "Here's the new kid. Hey, introduce yourself to the Captain..."

"Umm, pleased to meet you sir. My name is Yun Seokcheol..."

xxx

Few more months passed, yet none of them dared to ask Jian what _truly_ went on between Hyeon and her. But by now, they were all aware that the man had disappeared without notice. In which they do try to secretly be supportive of Jian whenever she was hit by random bouts of melancholy.

They've got some other cases to handle, as the trail of the criminal Lee Junyeong started to get cold. Even then they still had to survive. The team do still have to take other cases in order to remain together, and thankfully the new member did not fare too badly. Then again, perhaps they've also hung around Hyeon too much that they tend to start tackling the new cases in his same methodical approach. Still won't deny that it would've been better if Hyeon was _actually_ around.

That corner desk still remained empty but Eunhyeok was adamant in not accepting any other new member into the team.

xxx

"Senior Son, you coming?"

Myeongu joined him wordlessly as they clocked out for the day to resume their _ongoing_ 'special investigation'. It's what they've been doing as of late, yet kept this from Jian. They do notice that Jian often made periodic visits to Lee Hyeon's house to see if he came back. But staking out an empty house in vain didn't sound like a wise choice and they don't want to break their own hearts to see Jian pining for Hyeon...

Both Eunhyeok and Myeongu entered the office as a small man gave a cry. "Ah! It's you guys again!"

On the bright side, they gained an extra friend. Na Bongsung turned to be a _very_ helpful friend; and even as the man kept insisting that Hyeon haven't got in touch with him still, they do find his wide range of contacts useful in helping with their police investigations.

xxx

But suppose in the end... it's the thoughts that mattered? Even if all their efforts didn't give any fruits. That even when Lee Hyeon came back to them unrelated to everything they've been doing, at least they've taken care of Jian well?

Eunhyeok smiled as he watched Lee Hyeon awkwardly accepting a hug from Seungju and chided Myeongu like in the old times. As he thought, the team wasn't truly complete without the jerk around.

He glanced towards Jian as he snorted to himself.

"All right. Seokcheol, go call for the coroner to send the body to the morgue. Seungju, go look up for any witnesses in the area. Senior Son, you and me shall check the crime scene for traces of evidence. And Jian—" Eunhyeok slapped both Hyeon and her at the back as he shoved them to the sides. "Get all the statements from the patrols as well as the first person who reported the incident. After that you both can get the rest of the day to yourselves. We'll handle the rest at the station. Go catch up with each other as long as you want."

Eunhyeok grinned as he left the two behind him and didn't look back. He expected the two to be taken aback by his words but he didn't care. If there's anything else he could do, it's to get those two back together again.

 _What's the point of being the third person if he can't at least do that?_


End file.
